Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Prince George Chef comes full circle from student to instructor at CNC

Chef Mandy Newcomb started her cooking education at College of New Caledonia and now she is a chef instructor and coordinator for the culinary arts department.
cnc-chef-mandy-newcomb
College of New Caledonia Chef Mandy Newcomb is one of the instructors and culinary arts program coordinator.

Chef Mandy Newcomb has worked at the College of New Caledonia for 11 years, and she is now a chef instructor and coordinator for the culinary arts program.

“I took the professional cook program when I was fresh out of high school in ’96-’97 then I went away to cooking school in Vancouver, attending French fine dining cooking school, then worked a little bit around Vancouver and a little bit in Valemount and Tete Jeune, came back to PG and then worked at several restaurants, opened up the hotel and casino project, then started subbing here off and on,” Newcomb said about her chef's journey.

“I liked teaching and I always enjoyed it and eventually you get burned out of certain things and I needed a change so I came over here and started as a cook and then started subbing and got on full time coming up four years ago.”

Newcomb took the provincial instructor diploma program for her certification and did all her education and career development while raising her family.

“Food is connection,” Newcomb said about cooking for loved ones. “It’s a great way to tell people you love them by filling their bellies and making them smile. Anybody can cook, you just need a passion for it and the skills will come with training.”

The program at CNC starts with professional cook level one and it goes from August until March and then consecutively, back-to-back, is level two that takes place March to June.

“Cooking is a life skill that balances science and art,” Newcomb said. “You get to be creative and there are so many avenues that open up. You can work at camps or cruise ships, the oil fields, fishing camps, little ma and pa restaurants, fine dining restaurants, quick serve and this career even allows you to travel. So there’s all sorts of places a career in cooking can take you."

For more information about the culinary arts progam at CNC visit https://cnc.bc.ca/programs-courses/programs/detail/professional-cook